Mrs Belogski I am the wife of a communal rabbi, mother of seven gorgeous and very lively children and a part-time freelance writer.

Post Purim

It was a lovely Purim – perhaps a bit quieter or more mellow than some years, but very inspiring. Great megillah in shul, attended by loads of people, including some refugees from other shuls, where it isn’t as much fun.Megillah again at home at 11pm for people who couldn’t make it to shul,then at 6:30am (!) You would be amazed at how many people are prepared to get up that early on a Sunday morning…

The mishloach manos run, which I had been dreading, went very smoothly, the main hitches being when we pulled up outside someone’s house (twice!) to discover that we hadn’t packed a parcel for them.Fortunately a bit of creative renaming solved the problem and we have added labels to the list of things to bring in the car next year.

My favourite moments: our little pirate holding the candle in shul, with intense concentration, while a big pirate made havdalah

Our little pirate, complete with mustache, davening beautifully on Sunday morning in the company of a penguin

Pharoah putting on his bike helmet before going out to deliver mishloach manos

Singing with the children after the seudah

What did we give for mishloach manos?

A tray with 3 compartments with a packet of turkey, a parev mushroom and courgette quiche and a potato/carrot/parsley salad, with a bottle of beer – all labelled appropriately (thanks to our daughters!): hamolech me Hodu v’ad Kush, Mordechai…ben Kish,chel karpas… and Shushan habira.It was cute, reasonably priced and easy to pack.

The seuda worked well– the food was delicious ( thanks to all who contributed), the guests participated and the atmosphere was lovely. We had a collaborative Purim Torah this year – a Jewish census, designed to assess participants’ standing in the Jewish world, featuring questions about what sort of things they wrap in plastic (tables, challah cloths, children); redst du mama loshen? a) Ja, sicher,b) Far vos nisht? c) ma atah omer?

Popular costumes this year seemed to be pirates, penguins and Indians for teenaged girls. We reckoned that it is quite easy to get hold of an authentic costume, it’s pretty and it’s quite modest both in technicalities and spirit.

Post Purim gripe – why do people think it is appropriate to let small children, or anyone, play with noise making caps? And why, if you don’t let your children have toy weapons during the year, why is it OK for them to play with them on Purim?

Best thing that happened all day – checking my email after Purim to discover that one of our friends has got engaged!

Parenting tip – do not leave waterproof mascara where a baby can reach it. We now have a panda walking around and no eyemakeup remover in the house.

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One thought on “Post Purim”

Claire Fsays:

So good to see you’ve restarted your blog! Now at least I can keep up a little with the Belovski household, seeing as I see you so rarely nowadays (walking past your house when you’re driving off doesn’t count). Love to all! Claire